


Stray Neko

by flitterflutterfly



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Neko-Jin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-01
Updated: 2014-02-01
Packaged: 2018-01-10 20:19:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1164065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flitterflutterfly/pseuds/flitterflutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eiji is a neko—a sub-breed of humans with cat ears and a tail. Oishi doesn’t quite know what to think about the neko following him home like a stray cat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stray Neko

**Author's Note:**

> So, I decided to go with using Oishi instead of Shuuichirou, because that’s what most people do and it’s just easier to write. (Also, what's with it being Ooishi on ao3? I have never seen it spelled that way before—how strange.)

Oishi Shuuichirou sighed to himself. The neko was following him again. This was the third time in the last week that the red-haired half-human, half-cat had decided to follow several paces behind Oishi on his way home from work. The neko wasn’t the least bit subtle about it, but so far Oishi hadn’t bothered telling the male to stop. It wasn’t like the neko was hurting anything. If anything, it was cute.

Still, Oishi was a busy man. He didn’t have time to entertain anyone, let alone a hyperactive individual as nekos tended to be.

Oishi arrived at his apartment complex. Usually, at this time, the neko would wander away, disappointed. Today, for whatever reason, Oishi glanced back at him.

The neko’s dark blue eyes widened and he blushed, ducking his head. His red cat ears twitched as if in embarrassment and his tail curled around his leg.

Oishi sighed again. He wished he were better at saying no, even to a non-verbal request. “Come on then,” he said aloud. “I have some milk inside.”

The neko perked up and eagerly he rushed up to Oishi’s side. Oishi continued walking to his apartment, hoping he wouldn’t regret letting the stray inside. At least, he saw, the neko had the sense to take his slippers off at the door. The poor creature wore only a faded hoodie and sweatpants. Neko couldn’t easily get jobs and more often than not were kept as housewives or husbands because of their strangely alluring nature. Still, a number of neko ended up on the street each year and if Oishi had to bet, this was one of them.

“What’s your name?” Oishi asked, heading to the kitchen to poor the male a glass of milk. “I’m Oishi Shuuichirou.”

“Eiji,” the neko said, just a bit meekly. “Thank you for letting me come in, Oishi-sama.”

“You don’t need to be so formal, Eiji-san,” Oishi stated. “Do you have a family?” The neko had only introduced himself with a first name, so he probably didn’t, but Oishi had to ask.

Eiji shook his head. “I used to be with the Kikumaru family, nya.” He shrugged and said nothing more on the matter.

Seeing the sad look in the neko’s eyes, Oishi let the matter drop. He placed a glass of milk in Eiji’s hands. “There you go. Drink up.” Eiji did, drinking the milk like it was laced with catnip. Oishi smiled at the cute picture.

Checking the time, Oishi sighed. It was late, but he still had to make dinner—especially now that he had a guest. With that, Oishi set about putting together a simple chicken dinner. Eiji spent the whole time watching him, his empty glass of milk still clutched in his hands. Once Oishi had prepared enough, he put two plates on the table and gestured for Eiji to sit down.

Eiji seemed startled to be allowed to sit at the table. Oishi very deliberately didn’t think about why. He didn’t have time in his life to be an activist, even though he very much didn’t like the way most people acted around nekos. He was a doctor, but he’d never treated one of the nekos because they were always taken to veterinarians like regular pets. Oishi thought the whole thing was just ridiculous.

Eiji ate the dinner extremely fast, as if he was worried Oishi would take it away. Oishi said nothing about it, just took Eiji’s plate once it was empty and set it in the sink with his own. The dishes were piling up, but he was too tired to do them. All he wanted to do was sleep.

Eiji still sat at the kitchen table like he wasn’t sure what to do. Oishi rubbed his eyes. “You can sleep on the couch tonight,” he murmured. “I’ll get you a blanket.” He wished he had a guest room, but his apartment was small. Still, the couch was better than the streets. He was a little worried he would wake up with half his possessions missing and the neko gone, but he didn’t have anything too valuable in his house so it should be fine.

Oishi grabbed a blanket from the linen closet. Eiji took it, the tip of his tail twitching and his ears slightly lower than normal. Oishi was too tired to try to figure out what was wrong. “Good night,” he said, and then escaped into his bedroom.

Oishi woke up the next morning to his alarm. He blearily turned it off and got ready. He honestly didn’t remember about his visitor until he stumbled out into the living room and saw the neko fast asleep curled up on the couch. A smile came to Oishi’s lips without thinking. His fingers twitched as he held back to the urge to pet the neko’s head. He wasn’t sure if Eiji could read, but he wrote the neko a quick note saying to help himself to anything in the fridge and to stay as long as he wanted, and then he left for work.

Work was long that day. Oishi had been sent to the ER for most of the day and he’d dealt with emergency after emergency with barely a lunch break. By the time he was able to head home, he was exhausted. Once again, Oishi cursed his inability to say no. Then again, nothing made him happier than helping people.

Oishi opened the door to his apartment. “I’m home,” he called as he took off his shoes.

“Welcome home, nya,” came a voice from the kitchen. Eiji poked his head out and smiled shyly.

“Hello, Eiji,” Oishi said, hiding his surprise that the neko was still there.

Eiji walked out into the hallway, wringing his hands. “Oishi-kun said it was okay if I took stuff from the fridge, nya.”

“That’s right,” Oishi said, glad Eiji could read. “Is something wrong?”

“Oishi-kun didn’t have much stuff, nya,” Eiji murmured. “I tried to make Oishi-kun dinner, but….”

“You didn’t have to do that!” Oishi said, walking forward. Now he could smell the delicious scent coming from the kitchen. He looked at the kitchen table and his mouth dropped. Several plates were laid out carefully on the table. Oishi saw dumplings and noodles and rice balls. He was stunned. “I had enough for all that?”

“It’s not much,” Eiji was still saying.

“Eiji!” Oishi stated, cutting the neko off. “It looks delicious. Thank you. Have you eaten yet?”

Ears still twitching nervously, Eiji shook his head.

“Let’s eat dinner together then,” Oishi said.

The meal tasted as delicious as it looked. Oishi nearly moaned as he bit into the first dumpling. By the time he was finished, he’d never felt more satisfied in his life. He thanked Eiji again. Eiji smiled like Oishi had made his world with a simple compliment. Oishi made a mental note to compliment the neko again… if Eiji stuck around.

It seemed he would. For the next week, Eiji was there every night when Oishi got home with a new mouth-watering meal. Oishi could hardly believe his life. After several nights of the same thing, Oishi realized that Eiji was starved for affection.

On a rare weekend off, Oishi took Eiji grocery shopping with him so they could get whatever Eiji needed to cook with. Eiji went a bit nuts at the grocery store, but Oishi’s job paid well and he hardly spent money on himself so he didn't mind. He also got a couple toys for the neko so Eiji would stop staring at his fish like he wanted to dip a hand into the water.

That night, Oishi set up his old T.V. with a movie and sat on the couch. Eiji seemed unsure where to sit, so Oishi patted the couch next to him. By the time the movie was halfway through, Eiji had curled up half on Oishi’s lap, lightly dosing while Oishi gently stroke his hair.

Soon enough, Oishi looked back and realized Eiji had been living with him for a month. He couldn’t complain. Even his coworkers noted he seemed a lot more relaxed lately. It was nice to always come home to a ready meal, nice to have someone to talk to when he was stressed who would listen without judgment, nice to have a warm body to curl up with while they watched movies or read books.

The thing was, Oishi suddenly realized in the middle of petting Eiji’s hair, his body was starting to take the platonic behavior as something else. Mortified, Oishi discovered he’d grown hard with Eiji lying on his lap as they watched another movie together. He coughed and gently tried to extract himself.

“Nya?” Eiji murmured, blinking sleepily. “Why’s Oishi-kun leaving? The movie’s not done yet.”

“I just… need to go to the bathroom,” Oishi lied, praying Eiji wouldn’t move his hand an inch to the right.

Because the universe was against him, Eiji did. Oishi bit back a moan at the sudden contact, even through his slacks. Eiji froze.

“Ah, I’m sorry, Eiji!” Oishi said, trying to move backward. “I don’t, that is, it’s not–”

“Oishi-kun likes me, nya?” Eiji asked, eyes wide.

“You don’t have… this isn’t any–” Oishi tried to say, but Eiji just smiled wide.

“I like Oishi-kun too,” Eiji stated and then he leaned forward and kissed Oishi on the mouth.

Oishi’s words were muffled by Eiji’s lips. He almost pushed Eiji back, almost demanded Eiji never kiss him again, but… but Eiji had been the one to initiate this, hadn’t he? Oishi hadn’t pressured him into this, had he? And, just once in his life, Oishi wanted to do something selfish.

He kissed Eiji back. Eiji let out a soft mewl of pleasure and pressed closer. Oishi closed his eyes and reached up, running a hand through Eiji’s hair. He let his other hand trace across Eiji’s lower back. Eiji continued to make soft noises against his lips. Oishi gently brushed his hand down, the tips of his fingers tracing over the base of Eiji’s tail.

Eiji let out a low moan. “O-Oishi-kun.”

Oishi pulled back and smiled. Eiji was flushed, his eyes blown wide with lust and affection. Oishi bet his matched. He used the hand in Eiji’s hair to pull Eiji's face down to Oishi’s neck. Eiji went easily, nuzzling against Oishi’s shoulder. Oishi cradled the neko.

After a moment of just cuddling like that, Eiji pulled back enough to frown. “Oishi-kun doesn’t want to have sex with me?”

“Not now,” Oishi murmured, brushing his thumb across Eiji’s cheek affectionately. “We can take this slow, can’t we?”

Eiji blushed again, but his smile was sweet. “As Oishi-kun wants.” He snuggled back closer again. “Anything Oishi-kun wants.”

“You too, Eiji,” Oishi said. “Okay?”

Eiji pressed a kiss to the side of Oishi’s neck in response and Oishi hugged him tighter.


End file.
